The woman hired as BART’s new general manager was praised Wednesday as a straight talking, seasoned executive well-suited to healing political rifts and finding the capital to replace BART train cars.

Grace Crunican, Seattle’s transportation director for eight years until 2009, becomes BART’s ninth general manager by a 8-1 vote of the board.

She will be paid $300,000 a year plus as much as $20,000 in incentive bonuses. Crunican replaces Dorothy Dugger, who resigned in April.

Crunican faces a challenge in working with an often divided board, outspoken employee unions, community members upset with transit police shootings, and a public that expects on-time trains even as cars and equipment age. In the latest controversy, BART is under fire for cutting off cellphone service at four underground San Francisco stations to thwart a protest against police.

Crunican said she was too new to comment on the cellphone blackout, but said she would familiarize herself with that and other police issues.

BART directors said Crunican is prepared for the job, with 32 years experience as a transportation manager at the city, state and federal levels.

“She knows transportation, and she’s a straight talker in an agency that has had problems with openness and transparency,” said BART Director Lynette Sweet, of San Francisco. “She’s a breath of fresh air.”

Before serving as Seattle’s transportation director, Crunican worked as Oregon’s transportation director and as deputy director of the Federal Transportation Administration, an important source of funds for rail and road projects.

Crunican said her contacts and experience in Washington, D.C., would help BART make its case to get federal grants for some of the estimated $3.4 billion cost of replacing its aging rail car fleet.

“I know my way around Washington,” she said, but she also cautioned that the outlook for federal grants is “cloudy” because of congressional budget battles.

BART Director James Fang, of San Francisco, cast the lone no vote against Crunican because she didn’t show enough familiarity with the BART system or its rail car replacement program, as did other job candidates from the Bay Area.

Fang also said he voted no because he thinks $300,000 base pay plus $20,000 in incentives is too much in the current economic climate.

“I’m not sure this is setting a good example,” he said.

Other directors noted that Crunican will make slightly less than Dugger, a longtime BART employee who was paid $345,352 in gross pay in 2010.

Crunican’s employment contract provides her with a year’s salary if the board dismisses her for reasons other than gross misconduct.

GRACE CRUNICAN
POSITION: BART general manager
RESPONSIBILITIES: Overseeing system carrying 350,000 riders per weekday to 44 stations.
EXPERIENCE: Served for eight years until 2009 as Seattle transportation director in charge of roads and bridges, and oversaw construction of streetcar line there. She also was Oregon’s transportation director, deputy director of the Federal Transit Administration, and Portland’s capital project manager.
QUOTE: “I am a straightforward person. I get to the punch line and don’t care about the baggage from the last conversation.”

Denis Cuff covers environmental, water, and outdoor recreation news for the Bay Area News Group. A graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in communications, he enjoys hiking and cycling in his spare time.

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